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Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs before EU summit on Brexit extension - live news
Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs before EU summit on Brexit extension - live news
(32 minutes later)
Jeremy Corbyn speaks now. He begins by noting it is the 21st anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, but then diverts from any Brexit follow-up to ask questions about council cuts, asking why poorest areas are facing the worst of these.
Labour’s Wayne David asks about what he says is falling police funding, which May rejects. Then Tory MP Shailesh Vara and May agree with each other on the economic contribution of the UK’s Indian diaspora.
May responds by saying councils have a real-terms increase in funding this year.
Now it’s Labour’s Stephen Hepburn, who asks a slightly high-concept question criticising the government’s overall record. The Tory Eddie Hughes asks about female representation at the top of corporations.
PMQs starts a few minutes late, as often happens these days. An immediately tricky first question for Theresa May, as Tory backbencher Craig Tracey asks whether she agrees a no-deal Brexit would be best.
The answers to both are as you might expect.
She does not.
Brexit again, at last. Tory Henry Smith asks whether the EU contributions for a long delay to departure could be better spent on other areas. May says she wants a brief delay.
Prime minister’s questions is is about to start.
It is now Labour’s Luke Pollard – whose birthday it is, the Speaker, John Bercow, notes as he calls him. It’s another question about universal credit, and the problem of weekly rent given the variable payments of UC. May says the issue is manageable.
In the usual way, I will post a snap summary when it is over.
Damien Moore, another Conservative backbencher, asks about disabled access at rail stations. May says progress is being made on the issue.
A long day for the prime minister is beginning in earnest – she has left Downing Street for parliament, where she will take prime minister’s questions before heading directly to Brussels.
Now it’s the turn of Scottish Lib Dem Jamie Stone, who asks about decommissioning at the Dounreay nuclear plant, and job prospects amid this. May pledges government assistance on this.
I interviewed MP Nick Boles for Today in Focus today, on Tory travails, leadership hopes and Brexit in general (writes Anushka Asthana, presenter of our daily podcast).
Another Conservative Brexiter has a question, again not about Brexit. Theresa Villiers asks about police cuts in north London. May says this is a matter for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Interestingly, despite being a close friend of Michael Gove’s and supporting his leadership bid in 2016, Boles doesn’t think Gove - or anyone else in the current cabinet and linked to the referendum campaign - should be the next leader.
Labour’s Mark Hendrick asks about universal credit and its role in child poverty and food bank use, asking when the government will scrap the new benefit system. May insists UC is a route out of poverty.
Instead, Boles argued that a long campaign, as for David Cameron, could find a younger, more unifying figure who could change the party’s fortunes. On Boris Johnson (who Boles has observed closely), he said “at his best his has an ability to communicate with people at a level of gut” but often there is chaos, concluding: “I don’t think Boris Johnson is fit to be prime minister - no.”
Conservative backbencher and keen Brexiter Daniel Kawczynski asks about school funding differences between regions, saying his local schools in Shropshire do worse than their equivalents in London. May talks up the new schools funding formula.
Boles also seemed absolutely convinced that Amber Rudd would not back Johnson, adding that she had sacrificed her own chances to take a brave and principles position on Brexit.
Labour’s Gill Furniss is up next, asking about the role of UK companies in the ongoing Saudi military offensive in Yemen. May says Britain has strong rules on such issues, and is seeking a ceasefire in the country.
As for why he ever became a Tory, Boles said that in 1997 he loved Tony Blair, but decided he’d rather be the most leftwing person in the Tories than the most right-wing in Labour.
Another non-Brexit question: Conservative backbencher Bob Blackman asks about the long-running issue of homes sold under leasehold terms with escalating ground rents. May points to government action on this.
Listen to the full interview here:
Conservative MP Andrew Murrison asks a question about waste incinerators and their impact climate change, getting a positive response from the PM.
Can the Conservative party survive Brexit? – podcast
Next, Labour’s Ronnie Campbell asks about access to a new drug for cystic fibrosis. May said work is being done on this.
The UK’s GDP grew by 0.2% year-on-year in the last quarter, the best figure since late 2017, the Office for National Statistics has said – and it might have been driven in part by Brexit.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, asks May if the government has offered a second referendum at any point in the Brexit talks with Labour. The PM reiterates that she does not like the plan, but does not wholly answer the question.
Industrial production rose by 0.6% in February, with the ONS saying there is some evidence it could have been driven by companies wanting to boost production before Brexit amid stockpiling efforts.
Blackford’s second question asks if May will accept a long delay to Brexit, and a second referendum. Again, there is no real response.
More on our business live blog here.
After that fairly brief if concentrated exchange on cuts, Tory MPs Antoinette Sandbach raises this week’s new government plans on internet safety, inviting May to praise it – which the prime minister happily does.
UK economy 'stronger than expected' in February thanks to Brexit stockpiling - business live
More on council funding. Corbyn says the government has “abandoned communities across the countries”, and reels off a list of closures and cuts. He asks May to admit that her government have been “cruel and unfair”.
My letter to @eucopresident Donald Tusk: Any decision by the Prime Minister to accept a long extension to Article 50 is likely to be challenged in the UK courts. pic.twitter.com/D4AFcsYvEV
Not unexpectedly, the PM does not. She responds with yet more statistics, and a somewhat sweeping attack on Labour.
While it’s fair to predict that this will not necessarily derail the EU’s thinking, in a sign of the continued fury of Brexiter Conservative MPs, Bill Cash has tweeted a letter he has sent to Donald Tusk warning the European council president that a long extension to Brexit “is likely to be challenged in the UK courts”.
Corbyn reiterates his point on the new council funding formula, and stresses the crisis faced by local authorities now.
The letter is fairly long, but is based on the legal belief of some members of the European Research Group (ERG) of Brexiter Tories that because parliament voted to leave the EU, the government is now bound by that. Cash is a former solicitor, and chaired the ERG’s self-styled “star chamber” of lawyer-MPs, who decided they could not back May’s plan.
May says councils have had to make “some difficult decisions” and blames the last Labour government for the deficit.
The Today programme chat with Barclay did not tell us much – for the most part he was in line-holding pattern, repeatedly saying that the government still wanted a 30 June extension, batting away most of the questions about what might actually happen.
Corbyn says new council funding proposals will make the differences between poorer and richer councils even greater. The Labour leader asks why this is happening.
One interesting element was that when asked about how he felt with the EU essentially being in charge, Barclay firmly blamed MPs, rather than the government, returning to the narrative in May’s much-criticised Downing Street statement from last month. Asked about the UK’s powerlessness, Barclay said:
May rejects this, saying the new plans will be fairer, and gets in a pre-local elections message about lower council tax under the Conservatives.
That is a consequence of parliament, not the government. The government has agreed a deal with the EU. It is parliament that has forced this on the government.
Using a similar comparison, Corbyn moves on to homelessness, and to child poverty. May again responds with a barrage of part-related statistics.
Barclay had little of note to say about what might happen if the talks with Labour definitively broke down without a compromise plan:
If they fail, the prime minister has said that we will come back to parliament and look at how we then get clarity on a vote. One of the challenges there will be is how we have a stable majority to pass the legislation that would follow that vote. But, we would come back to parliament and seek to get a consensus on the various options.
Good morning. This is Peter Walker, standing in for Andrew Sparrow. He’s in this afternoon, and will take the live blog late into the evening for the emergency European council summit in Brussels.
Right now, the UK is officially two days away from leaving the EU without a deal. But this afternoon Theresa May will head to Brussels to seek an extension to Brexit. She wants a delay of no more than 30 June. But the EU27, mindful that the PM has nothing meaningfully new to offer them, after cross-party talks with Labour broke up until Thursday, seem minded to seek a year.
Can May accept this? More pertinently, will her cabinet? The Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay – a man, remember, who last month voted against extending article 50 after arguing in favour of it on behalf of the government – hinted this morning that he, perhaps, could.
Under repeated questioning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Barclay sort-of-hinted he could, as long as the delay came with a break clause if the UK agrees a deal in the interim – a flex-tension, in the ever-changing parlance. Asked about a long delay, one that would involve the UK taking part in European parliament elections, he said:
I don’t want to see a delay for up to a year. But, the key with any delay is we are able to terminate it once we ratify in order that we can then get on and get a deal through parliament, ratify that agreement and leave the EU. And I think that is what the EU leaders want, it is what the Prime Minister wants.
Here is the agenda for the day (all UK times):
11.30am: Commons opens with Northern Ireland questions.
12.00pm: Prime minister’s questions.
4pm-ish: May due to arrive at the summit in Brussels.
5pm: Summit starts, with May speaking to the EU27 before they meet (and dine) without her to decide what happens.
Late evening/night: Announcement, and possible press conferences.
As with Andrew, I will endeavour to respond to queries, but the sheer number of comments plus a busy day might make it tricky. If you really want to get my attention (or point out a silly error) then try me on Twitter, @peterwalker99
